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Action Comics Vol 1 62
Antagonists: * ** ** Atescu Other Characters: * Peter Populis Locations: * ** | Writer5_1 = Joe Samachson | Penciler5_1 = Edwin J. Smalle, Jr. | Inker5_1 = Edwin J. Smalle, Jr. | Editor6_1 = Jack Schiff | Writer6_1 = Gardner Fox | Penciler6_1 = Joseph Sulman | Inker6_1 = Joseph Sulman | StoryTitle1 = Superman: "There'll Always Be a Superman" | Synopsis1 = Lois Lane joins fishing captain Zeb Storm on an excursion of the coast of Dornley Deep. Their ship is destroyed by the Nazis and Lois is captured. Storm makes it to shore and tells Superman. The Man of Steel finds an undersea Nazi base. He rescues Lois and Storm's crew and captures the Nazi soldiers. In the far future, Storm's descendant tells the story to his grandchildren. He explains that Superman returns to Dornley Deep often to visit Storm's descendants. Superman then makes an appearance for the children. | StoryTitle2 = Vigilante: "The Crime Carnival" | Synopsis2 = Greg Sanders is invited to perform at a winter festival in Arcturus. When he arrives with Stuff he saves the mayor from a series of accidents. When Mr. Mungo, the festival organizer threatens Greg, the Vigilante takes action. Mungo and his men try to kill Vig and the mayor. Stuff, who is trying to ski, gets in their way. Vig apprehends the men and learns they are city crooks. The festival takes place without further incident. Stuff's bravery is rewarded, despite the fact that his skiing landed him in a wheelchair. | StoryTitle3 = Three Aces: "The Loyal Traitor" | Synopsis3 = On the U.S. aircraft carrier Roosevelt, a Nazi transmission is picked up on the radio, announcing the Reich's takeover of the French city of Toulon. A list, of some of the officers present at the celebration, is read. Suddenly, young Ensign Crane shouts for the radio to be turned off, and storms out of the room. His father was one of the names recited, Will explains to Fog, a former Navy officer who joined the Nazis after being falsely discharged. The alarm goes off, and the Aces are called into the Admiral's quarters. Gunner, Will, and Fog are told that the Nazis are salvaging one of the damaged French warships, and turning it into an aircraft carrier. Their mission is to join the raid on Toulon harbor, and destroy the ship before it's finished. During the briefing, the sound of an engine breaks through. Up on deck, one of the sailors reports that Ensign Crane has taken one of the planes! No time to chase after him now, the Aces need to prepare for the assault. That night, the airstrike on the Nazi base occurs. But the Aces' target, the new carrier, is nowhere to be found. Will signals his friends and they follow him inland. Soon they land, away from the Nazis, and find a group of French patriots who were willing to help. Regarding their questions about the converted carrier, the Frenchmen tells the Aces that Hauptmann Crane, Nazi commander of the local air squadron, could know the answer to that. One of the patriots, a farmer, leads Will and friends to an old building, where the French Underground meets in the basement. Fog, Gunner, and Will are startled to find Hauptmann Crane standing before them, and at his side is his son, Ensign Crane! Did the Ensign join his father in the service of the Reich? But the truth is that Hauptmann never turned traitor. When he received his dishonorable discharge, based on a mistake, he used it as an opportunity to get in with the Nazis, as a spy. He now has the carrier hidden, in a camouflaged steel shed, where it will stay for a few hours, before some French sailors disguised as workers will deliver it to the Allies. That isn't all; the Nazis have some new types of fighter planes. that Hauptmann thought the five of them could steal, and bring back to the scientists and test pilots for study. Hauptmann, his son, and Gunner, Will, and Fog get some Nazi pilot disguises, and infiltrate the airport. They remain unsuspected during takeoff. But once the other planes start to attack the escaping carrier, the Aces and the Cranes decide to put the fighters to the test, themselves. An air battle breaks out over Toulon harbor, one that is soon joined by the reinforcements sent by the Roosevelt! Hauptmann's voice comes over the radio that he's been hit! After ten minutes, the enemy is defeated. The Aces guide the fighter planes down onto the Roosevelt's runway and climb out. The mission was a success, but Hauptmann Crane is gravely wounded. A funeral is held for the elder Crane, his son is given his father's medals, to be donated to the museum, so that others may know of Hauptmann's heroics to the very end. | StoryTitle5 = Congo Bill: "Island of Peril" | Synopsis5 = Congo Bill is doing aerial surveys of the Alaskan frontier when he has to make a landing, after his plane starts icing up. Luckily he soon gains the company of Dave Jenkins, an Eskimo trader, who has found a place they can keep shelter until help comes. Inside it is an arsenal of weapons, cannons, and ammunition, a regular stockade. The pair learn that this "shelter" isn't as deserted as they thought, when a small group of Japanese officers bursts in and opens fire! Bill and Dave fight the Japanese, knocking the guns out of their hands as they continue to push back, until the soldiers are on the floor in a heap. Bill finds a radio transmitter and taps out a call for help to the U.S. Navy. But a Japanese scout ship intercepts the message, realizing that there were intruders in their base. A tribe of Eskimos carrying spears approach, having been chased off their island by the Japanese. They are immediately wary of the two white men, until Dave speaks to them, explaining the situation. Having an enemy in common helps them to trust each other, and the Eskimos agrees to help them fight. As Dave helps the tribesmen arm themselves with guns from the armory, Bill finds a crate full of soldier cutouts. An old tactic used to fool the enemy into thinking their opponent had a bigger army, these Japanese paper soldiers give Bill an idea. He paints over the Japanese faces to make them look American, then lines the cutouts up in front of the windows of the stockade. Day turns to dusk. A creeping shadow beneath the water reaches shore, and it surfaces to reveal a Japanese submarine. Soldiers strike at the stockade, Bill and company firing back with the machine guns they found. Then the Japanese notice the army of American troops peering out the windows, not realizing they were just paper cutouts. The ruse works, combined with the Eskimo tribe firing at them, the Japanese believe they are outnumbered They retreat back to the sub to come up with a new plan. That night, Congo Bill makes a daring move when he paddles a canoe out to the sub, with a sea mine. He unloads his cargo just as the moonlight strikes his figure. Two officers spot him and get ready to shoot, when the sight of some American soldiers advancing across the sub's deck distract them long enough for Bill to knock their heads together! The Eskimo chief and his daughter reveal themselves, hiding behind the paper cutouts. Bill warns them to get back in their canoes and row as fast as they can. He joins them just as the tide starts to turn. When they reach shore, an explosion destroys the submarine and kills all aboard. The mine had done its job. The next day, the Navy reinforcements arrive to bring Bill and Dave back to civilization. | StoryTitle6 = Zatara: "The Money Buyer" | Synopsis6 = On a side street in the city sits a small shop of antiques and artifacts. But though it is still mid-day, the shop's owner Mark Golden closes up and heads out. A man drops a nickel on the sidewalk and figures it isn't worth picking up, leaving it for a young boy to collect. Golden sees this and offers the boy a dollar for the nickel. Quivering in eagerness, he examines the coin, wondering if it was the one he was looking for. He takes it back to his shop to weigh it on a scale. To his delight, he finds it is exactly the right weight. Meanwhile, young Billy, the boy who traded the nickel, runs home to show his fresh new dollar to his mother, who is currently entertaining a guest; Zatara, the magician. Time goes on, and Mark Golden continues his odd quest for simple coins. Golden pays fifty dollars to a soda jerk for a half-dollar he just received from a customer. The papers soon begin printing the strange story of a man who pays more for coins than they can ever be worth. That's when Zatara gets a call from Mr. Crawford, a panicked billionaire, asking him to come over to his mansion at once. Turning the flower pot into a plane, Zatara flies out to Crawford's estate. Before landing, he makes out a shadowy figure lurking on the grounds. When he meets with Mr. Crawford inside, Zatara tells him that he had an intruder, and to sit down in his chair. A few moments silence, then Golden enters the room. He goes to chloroform Mr. Crawford, but when he reaches around, he finds that the billionaire has shrunk to doll size! The chair itself isn't too happy about the disturbance and delivers a swift kick with its newly grown leg to Golden's ankle! Next instant, everything is back to normal, with regular sized Crawford asleep in his chair. Golden chalks it up to his eyes playing tricks and proceeds to seek Crawford's penny. But when he lifts up a painting to look for a safe, the man in the picture attacks him! The chair grabs him again and holds him in place as Zatara makes his appearance. The magician has a hard time believing he went to all this trouble just for a penny. But Mark Golden knows his rights, and refuses to speak. Since all they could have him arrested for is breaking and entering, Zatara and Crawford decide it best to just let him go. With Golden gone, Mr. Crawford now thinks it is safe to show Zatara something. The coin-buying spree Mark Golden had been on has a purpose, and Crawford knows what it was. He tells Zatara that Golden was after his money, but the only way he could get his hands on it was with those exact coins. His whole life he had been afraid of growing old. The only thing he could do about it was make sure that he wouldn't be poor in old age. Since he never trusted banks, Crawford had all his saving kept in one place. He presses a hidden button by the fireplace, making the wall open up into a secret room. The safe is inside, designed especially for him. It can only be opened by placing certain coins into round recesses at the top. Because he was too tempted to open it, Crawford had the coins given away, all except for the penny which he kept on him. In the other room there are suddenly footsteps! Golden has returned, and he brought some thugs along. Zatara uses a little magic to make the furniture and carpet in the room fight against the surprised burglars. Soon they all have had enough, and even Golden is more willing to talk this time! The safe designer was Golden's brother, and the man who was supposed to give Crawford's coins away. But he never did, perhaps planning on robbing the safe himself. Before he died, he entrusted the coins to Golden who kept them on him until recently; He gave away the nickel and fifty cent piece as change to some customers by accident. He got them back, but not before some newspaper pest got wind of him and wrote the article that warned Crawford. After the wanna-be thieves are taken to jail, Zatara convinces Mr. Crawford to take all his money out and buy war bonds. | Appearing1 = Featured Characters: * Supporting Characters: * Antagonists: * ** Admiral Von Storff Other Characters: * Captain Zeb Storme * Grandpa Storme * Alice Locations: * * Vehicles: * Storme's Fishing Boat | Appearing2 = Featured Characters: * Supporting Characters: * Antagonists: * Mr. Mungo * Mike * Slim Other Characters: * Mayor McGlurk Locations: * ** Arcturus | Appearing3 = Featured Characters: * ** ** ** Antagonists: * Other Characters: * Ensign Crane * Hauptmann/ Oberleutnant Crane Locations: * ** ** Vehicles: * USS Roosevelt, aircraft carrier * The Aces' Planes | Appearing5 = Featured Characters: * Antagonists: * ** Commander Saki ** Togo *** Japanese submarine crew Other Characters: * Dave Jenkins * Uglo ** Uglo's Tribe * Commander Grayson Locations: * ** Vehicles: * Japanese Submarine | Appearing6 = Featured Characters: * Antagonists: * Mark Golden Other Characters: * Mr. Crawford * Billy * Ed * Mr. Winyons Locations: * ** | Notes = * There'll Always Be a Superman is reprinted in . | Trivia = * Lois Lane getting captured by the Nazis during wartime is technically not a kidnap. * Congo Bill killed a whole submarine crew. | Recommended = | Links = }}